20 February: Clear sky in the morning, [with a] cold, light wind; about seven thirty, [a] stronger [wind] out of the northwest. At this time, 4 1/2°F [−15.3°C]. Kipp had to send a horse-drawn wagon to Bijou in the upper forest [winter] village of the Hidatsas to pick up the merchandise and belongings of the latter, because all [the Hidatsas] moved back into their three [summer] villages today. I described two animals new to me: Canis fulvus and Arvicola leucogaster. The Arikara visited us. About noon the two sleds from Picotte arrived. At twelve o’clock, 8°F [−13.3°C]. Wind very cold out of the north. Many Indian women dragged wood on the river. This noon we heard the following story: Several days ago the Mandans rode [out] buffalo hunting and came upon a large herd of several hundred cows. Because [the buffalo] ran toward the mountains, which was favorable for shooting arrows, they were immediately pursued. But when [they] arrived on top, the Indians saw only a very small number of animals, about twenty. The others had disappeared (doubtless having scattered into neighboring valleys), and the Indians maintained [that] they had sunk into the earth. For this they blamed a man who was at the head [of the hunting party] and who in the past year had caused the death of five Assiniboines who had come as representatives to make peace [with the Mandans]. The buffalo are now said to always scatter and flee from him.

In the afternoon it snowed a little—more toward evening. Fresh tracking snow covered the whole land; the cold had broken. They opened the gate for three Hidatsas who wished to stay overnight: an old man, a young man, and a woman. They made much noise in the room when they knocked off the snow from their robes. In three to four days, all these people will have moved back into their villages. In the evening, overcast, calm.

In the evening an old Hidatsa, Kíhrapä-Süpischä́ (Black Buffalo), told me words of his language. Evening cloudy and calm, little cold.